Door and gate fastener



May 26, 1925. r 1,539,173

W. J. FAIRBANK DOOR AND GATE FASTENBR Filed July 7, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 um/whoa May 25, 1925. 1,539,173

W. J. FAIRBANK noon AND-GATE FASTENER Filed July 7, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ZMJ hz'rZwn/Z Patented May 26, 1925,

mans PATENT OFFICE.

WTLLIE J. FAIRBANK, F SOLDIER, KANSAS.

DOOR AND GATE FASTENER.

Application filed July 7, 192 4. Serial No. 724,676.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVTLLIn J. FAIRBANK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Soldier, in the county of Jackson and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Door and Gate Fasteners; and I do declare thefollowing to be a full, clear,'and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the'same.

My invention relates to improvements: in locks and latches for numerous purposes and has reference more particularly to a latch which is designed primarily for use upon swinging or sliding doors and gates, the principalobject being to provide an extremely simple and inexpensive, yet a highly advantageous device of this character which may be used in a number of ways, that is, for doors which move either toward the right or the left when closing, whether they are of the swinging or sliding type.

In carrying out the preferred form of construction, alatch lever is providedcooperable with a keeper, said lever being mounted at the innerside of the closure and being operable by means of a. rock shaft and handle from the outside of said closure. Further objects of the invention are to provide a novel arrangement of parts whereby a single spring will move the latch lever to operative position, whether it is movable in one direction or the other when releasing, according to whether the door is of the right or left hand type; to provide a unique form of keeper for co-action with the latch lever; to provide a single staple for securing the operating handle on the rock shaft and for preventing withdrawal of this shaft from adj a cent parts of the device; and to provide a novel holding arm for the latch lever which will prevent it from being released when desired.

With the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel subject matter hereinafter described and claimed, the description being supplemented by the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a the latch applied hinged'barn door.

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional'view,

perspective view showing to the upper section of a edge of the flange 1 Figures 3 and 4 are vertical sectional views on lines 3-.3 and 4- 1 of Flg. 2.

Figures 5 and 6 are disassembled perspective views.

Figure 7 is an elevation showing the man ner of applying the invention to a sliding door.

Figure 8 is a detail side elevation showing a slightly different form of construction.

The drawings above briefly described, illustrate the preferred form of construction and this construction is hereinafter specifi cally explained, with the understanding however that within the scope of the invention as claimed, numerous modifications may be made. t

The numeral 1 designates a flat vertically elongated base plate'having a circular openlug-2 between its ends and provided on one vertical edge with a laterally bent flange 1 having two openings 4, leaving an abutment 5 at the central portion of the flange, for a purpose to appear. spaced laterally from the plate 1 and has its end portions bent horizontally toward said plate as'indicated at 3 and then bent vertically to provide flanges 8 which are secured to the upper and lower end portions of the plate 1 by rivets 6. These flanges and the plate 1 are formed with openings 7 for attaching bolts 8 which are adapted to pass entirely through the closure 9, to which the device is secured. The outer ends of the bolts 8 pass through a face plate 10 and secure it against the outer side of the closure, said face plate having an opening 11 alined with the 0pening2 and also alined with another opening 12 in the plate 3. The plates 1 and 3 co-operatein forming a casing having two open ends, at one of which the flange 1 located, saidliange having a horizontal width less than the corresponding width of'sa-id casing.

A horizontal latch lever 13 passes through the casing above described, between the free and the plate 3, said lever having a hub 14 Whose ends are rotatably received in the openings 2 and 12.

. Opposite ends of the lever 13 are provided with laterally extending fingers 15 and 16, respectively, and between its ends, said lever is provided with a lateral lug 17 which is disposed at the inner side of the abutment 5,

A second plate 3 is.

A wire spring 18 is coiled around the hub 1d between the lever 13 and the plate 1 and the ends of this spring are extended to provide arms 19 which straddle both the lug l7 and theabutment 5, thefreeendsiof said arms being passed through the openings 4e and bent inwardly toward. each other as indicated at 20. By this construction and arrangement of parts, regardless of; the direction in which the lever 13 must be swung to release it, one of the arms 19 will act against the lug 17 and the other arm will react against the abutment 5, so that the spring will return the levento.its-initial position, assoon as it is released.

A novel form of keeper is provided for co-operation with the latch lever 13,

whether it be used in connect-ion with a hinged or a sliding door. In constructing this keeper, I use a vertically elongated metal plate 22, bend its ends laterally as in dicated. at 23 and then bend them vertically to provide attaching fl'angesQ'. The inter mediate portion of the plate 22 is formed with a vertically elongated slot. 25 whose central portion opens through one vertical edge of the plate as indicated at 26'. The

metal above and below the lateral or throat portion 26 of: the slot 25 is bent laterally on inclined lines, in the same direction as the bends 23, providing a pair of inclined flanges 2-? for engagement with one edge or the other of: the lever 13', when theihvention isused, on hinged doors, and also-engageable with one side orthe other of the finger 15, when the device 18- used on sliding doors, as-

indicated in Fig. 7.

In order that the closure may beheld in open position, I provide a suitable hook 28 adaptedtobe stationarily secured adjacent said closure, to coact with asuitable portion of: the latch lever 13, and in order that this lever-may beheld against release, when the door is closed, I make use of a holding arm- 29 pivoted at 30300 the cl'osuroand provided at its upper end with an angular notch 31 to receive the finger 16, when said armis swung totheposi'tion shown in Fig. 1.

For operating the lever 13 from the outside of' the closure, I provide a flat-sided rock shaft 32Wl1l0l1- passes through thehub l4: and has engagement with flat internal sides of the latter. This rock shaft passes through the opening 11 of the plate 1 0 and: through aflat-sided opening 38 in a handlehub 3d at the outer side-of said plate 10, said hub havingoppositely extending opera-tingarms 35- whose free ends are provided with lateral fingers 36. In the angle between one of the arms 35- and, its finger 36, preferably formed, said web having anvopenlug-38' through which the shackle of a pad locl'r' may be passed to secure the handle to an appropriate staple 39 driveninthe :t'ran'ie of" a door or some other adjacent. fixed; supa web 37: is

port, so that the closure may be locked from the outside of a building.

To secure the hub 34: upon the shaft 3:2, and; hold saidhub against the plate- 10, and tozprevent withdrawal of'the shaft from the latch mechanism and the plate 10, 1 provide a sheet metal, staple a0 which extends longitudinally of the shaft 32, straddles the outer end v portion of the latter, and binds frictionally against the opposed walls of the opening 38; The free ends of this staple pass inwardly through the opening 11 and are laterally bent at 4E1 against the inner sideof the plate 10. By placing the staple over-theouter'endof the shaft 81 and then driving thehulr 34; onto the shaft over said staple, thehub is secured upon theshaft with extreme rigidness. The ends of the staple may be'bent outwardly at thepropcr time, and in order to limit the driving of the hubon the shaft, the latter;- is preferably given a slight twist, as indioatedatl-Q, although this shaft need not be necessarily twisted, as will be seen from-Fig 8. In this figure, thestaple is shown secured to the shaft bya rivet 4'0. This construction may insome instances be followed, if desired.

It will be seen from; the foregoing that a simple, inexpensive and compact device has beenprovided for right and-left; hand doors, or other closures, whether they beof thesliding orswinging type, and asexcellent results have been obtained from the details disclosed, suchdetails are preferably followed. However, as above stated, within the sQOpe ofthe invention as claimed, moditications may-be made.

I. claim 1 A latch comprising a base, alatohlevcr pivoted on said base in laterally spaced reprovided with a lateralabutment extending toward said lever and overlapping said lug, and a spring'having two arms straddling sa-id lug'and abutment, whereby when the latchlever;is'swung: in either direction, one arm of the spring will act against said lug: and the othera-rnr will rc-act against, said abutment.

A latch comprising an open-ended casing having opposed side plates formed with alinedcircular openings, one of said plates having al'ateral flange at one end of the casing provided with a pair of spaced openings, a. latch leverpassing through said casing between the other side plate and the flange and having a. hub whose ends are rotatably received in said circular openings, said latch lever. also having a. lateral lug at the inner side of saidflange between the openings thereof, and a coiled spring around the hub v between the lever and said one side plate, said spring having its ends extended to form arms which straddle said lateral lug and pass through the openings of said flange.

3. In combination with a latch operating shaft, a face plate having an opening through which said shaft passes, and an operating handle having a hub at the outer side of the face plate through which one end of said shaft passes; a staple whose arms straddle the shaft and pass longitudinally through the hub to bind it on said shaft, the free ends of said staple arms; passing also through. the opening of said face plate and being bent laterally to hold the shaft again-st withdrawal from said opening.

al. An operating handle for latch-controlling closure-earned shaft, comprising a hub to be mounted on the shaft, a pair of arms projecting oppositely from the outer end of said hub and having inwardly projecting fingers at their outer ends, and a web in the angle between one arm and its linger, said Web having an opening to rcceive a padlock shackle. Y

5. A latch keeper comprising a flat vertical plate having its upper and lower ends bent horizontally in the same direction and then bent vertically to provide attaching flanges, the plate being formed with a vertical slot whose intermediate portion opens laterally through one vertical edge of said plate, the metal at the upper and lower ends of the lateral portion of the slot being bent on inclined lines in the same direction as the first bends given to the ends of the plate, providing inclined flanges either of which is operative for guiding a latch member into the slot.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

WILLIE J. FAIRBANK. 

